confirmer

Forms

confirmer^[1] Old and Middle French usually confermer, frequent until the 16th century and still recorded by Cotgrave in 1611.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include cunfermer and confirmer.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnfirmō (“to strengthen, establish, assure”), formed from cum and firmus (“firm, steady”), and in Christian Latin a liturgical term.^[2][3][5] The common old form confermer was replaced by the present form, remade on the Latin.^[2][3] Wiktionary instead derives the word from the Middle French form.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan confirmar, Spanish confirmar and Italian confirmare.^[6] It is related to French ferme¹ and fermer.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 10th-century Passion, in confirmer en veritad, to assure someone that he is in the truth.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

Of a person, the verb meant “to strengthen” (mid-12th century, the Cambridge Psalter), now a literary use.^[2][3] From about 1174 it was also the liturgical term for giving the sacrament of confirmation.^[2][3] Of things it was first legal or official, “to ratify” laws or charters (about 1174, Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence), and spread to “to establish more firmly as true”, often in the pronominal la nouvelle se confirme (Richelet, 1680) and the passive.^[2][3]

The proverb l'exception confirme la règle keeps the old sense “to strengthen”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 980 – First recorded in the Passion.^[2][8][3]
• mid-12th century – The Cambridge Psalter uses it for “to strengthen” someone.^[2]
• c. 1174 – Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses confermer for “to ratify” and in the liturgical sense.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave still records the spelling confermer.^[2]
• 1680 – Richelet records la nouvelle se confirme.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated) To make firmer, strengthen something established: l'exception confirme la règle.^[7][2]
2. Confirmer quelqu'un dans: to strengthen someone in an opinion or feeling.^[7][8]
3. To confirm, state or show to be true: confirmer une nouvelle, ces chiffres confirment nos craintes.^[7][1]
4. To make official, ratify, uphold: confirmer un jugement, confirmer sa venue.^[7][1][6]
5. Se confirmer: to be confirmed, prove true.^[7][1]
6. (theology) To give the sacrament of confirmation.^[7][6]

Related words

• confirmation
• ferme¹
• affermir
• infirmer
• Latin cōnfirmō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse